Hard Times
by turning.the.pages.in.time
Summary: "You hit me with lightning! Maybe I'll come alive."
1. Prologue: Tell Me That I'm Alright

_P_ _ROLOGUE:_  
 _TELL ME THAT I'M_  
 _ALRIGHT_

 _" 'Cause I wanna feel for once that I belong._  
 _That's what's going on."_

 _*•*_

Holidays, in a sense are supposed to bring, families together. Or at least that's a concept that Ciara Blossom was taught since a young age.

Christmas and Thanksgiving were the big ones because those were the two she was allowed to come back for, that and the summer.  
Summers were full of opportunities for the youngest Blossom triplet, opportunities to build friendships, opportunities to get to be with her siblings, opportunities to explore the town she was born in.

Some of them were scarce, exploration was mostly forbidden by her mother and she had to sneak out to even go outside. She managed to make a few friends though, one being the town loner, Jughead Jones. They had met at the Twilight Drive-In three summers prior, bonding over their similar outside statuses.

Another friend she had made was Reggie Mantle, the polar opposite to both her and Jughead. Where she was introverted he was extroverted, where she was admittedly not very active, he was captain of multiple sports teams. But polar opposites attract and they were the definition.

Her social activities in the summers were well known to both of her siblings, Cheryl and Jason. Cheryl was blunt in her support, less emotional, but as a sister, promised to keep it a secret. Jason on the other hand, was always available to confide in, taking over the emotional side of their relationship. Often telling her about his girlfriend and self-proclaimed love of his life.

The summer was her favorite time of year, and July marked the beginning of the end. At the end of July she was shipped off to school in another country, so her mother could ignore the daughter she had never wanted.

In a way, her banishment was an escape, but her summers are what she looked forward to. Just enough of home to keep her sane.

But like all good things, they must come to an end.

The morning of July fourth held a longstanding tradition for the Blossom triplets, every year they would wake up before the sun rose, before the bird even chirped, and their parents showed even an inkling of waking up; and they would spend the morning watching the sunrise.

This year, however was different.

Ciara knew something was wrong the moment she awoke. There was a small plate next to her bed and the door to her room was slammed open, revealing her father who was uncharacteristically disheveled.

The whole morning was a blur, and as they made their way to Sweetwater Lake, the pit in her stomach grew.

Little did she know, that upon arrival, Ciara Blossom's life would be changed forever, and unknowingly, she had everything to do with it.


	2. Chapter 1: Out of Respect

_CHAPTER ONE:_  
 _OUT OF RESPECT_

 _"Such a great son and wonderful friend._  
 _Oh don't the tears just pour?"_

 _*•*_

The Blossom family was at the top of the social hierarchy in the quaint town of Riverdale. This spot was carefully cultivated by Penelope Blossom, and she keep things in order by dictating everything that happened in the family.

Ciara Blossom, for some reason or another was an unexpected surprise when she was born and this did not sit well with her mother. She never fit the way the Blossoms were supposed to be, and at the soonest opportunity, Penelope Blossom shipped her away to a boarding school.

Now, she had no choice but to allow her daughter to reside at home. She had to keep up the façade of the caring mother, and she couldn't do that by sending her daughter away after the death of her only son.

One thing was for certain though, Penelope would not let Ciara ruin the reputation of her family.

*•*

It was common knowledge that American Public schools were atrocious, at least it was common knowledge in the U.K., where Ciara had spent the entirety of her academic career. Now, she would be attending one, a high school in fact, and all she had to go off of were movies. Movies that Cheryl had showed her that supposedly portrayed what high school was like exactly.

Ciara wasn't so sure.

What she did know, however, was that she wouldn't be able to hide behind ill-fitting uniforms anymore, and from pictures she'd seen of Cheryl at school, she would not be able to keep up with what she was wearing.

She was going to be expected to uphold the Blossom image of perfection. If Jason were here, he would have been able to reassure her that she would be fine. But he wasn't, and she was completely lost.

Save for Jughead.

The raven-haired boy was sat across from her in a booth at Pop's, his face illuminated by the glow of his laptop as he tapped away at the keys.

"You're worrying again." He stated, eyes unmoving from the screen. She looked up at him and then down to her nail, which she had been gnawing on. The grotesque taste of the anti-chewing nail polish that her mother had had her apply finally hitting her taste buds, making her grimace at the flavor.

"Nicely spotted, Jones. Your observation skills continue to astound me." She replied sarcastically. Her gaze examining the patrons in the diner, before landing on a red-headed boy a few booths down. A boy that had been pointed out to her before as Archie Andrews, the best friend of Jughead. Or ex-best friend.

Across from him sat a blonde haired girl, one that Ciara recognized all too well. The two teens reminded her of another ginger and blonde couple, and she looked away quickly.

"Archie and Betty are here." She mused, glancing at Jughead and then down at the summer work that lay in front of her.

"Don't care," Jughead spoke, finally looking up at her and catching his eyes."I'm not going to speak to him any time soon. He leaned back on the seat, and crossed his arms.  
She scoffed at him and replicated his position," You've been brooding for the last month. If I knew him well enough I would go over there and give him a piece of my mind. But I won't. Because you don't want me too."

Jughead smirked," _No,_ " he started, "you won't give him a piece of your mind because you're scared. "

She sighed and took a sip of her vanilla milkshake. "You're right, but that doesn't mean I'm not mentally scolding him in my mind." She smiled at him.

No one in town really knew that she existed, a few had found out after the tragedy, but most people wrote her off as a family friend or visiting cousin.

"I'm going to order some fries." She decided," I can't do this work without brain food."

Jughead leaned over his computer to look at what she had done, the fluorescent red light of the sign right outside the window casting it's color over his red beanie. This somehow took his mysterious stranger look from a 10 to an 11. " You've been putting this work off for weeks and you've only done the English assignments."

She stood up, adjusting her glasses on her face before giving him a serious look, "Math can kiss my ass."

"That's some strong language coming from a Blossom." he joked, a full smile revealing itself on his face.

"Don't smile to hard, Jones, you'll hurt yourself." And with that, she finally left the table to go to the register.

Upon her approach she noticed a gorgeous dark haired girl, and her stomach dropped upon the realization that she was talking flirtatiously with Archie Andrews who was sitting at the booth right next to the register.

"- _Tiffany's_ but this place is strictly _In Cold Blood._ " The dark girl laughed. Her gaze broke from Archie's as she looked up at Ciara who had accidentally been staring.

Her face turned red as the girl began speaking again,"Decided to join the party?" She joked. She held out her hand to Ciara, but addressed all of them, "Veronica Lodge."

"Archie Andrews, and uh this is Betty Cooper." Archie introduced themselves, and the three of them looked pointedly at the red-headed girl.

Ciara took Veronica's hand and shook it, hoping that she didn't notice her sweaty palms, "C-Ciara!" She squeaked. "Ciara Blossom."

She let go of Veronica's hand and wiped it on her old sweatpants. She found herself wishing she had worn something a little bit nicer than a raggedy Harry Potter sweater and old sneakers. " I go by Ki though." She muttered.

Veronica grinned at her, but realization dawned on her face before turning to Betty. "Wait, are you..."

"Supposed to give you both your tour tomorrow?" Betty asked, she tried to smile but it looked like more of a grimace. It reminded her of her older sister Polly, and her stomach turned. "Yes. I'm your peer mentor."

"Your Cheryl's cousin right?" Archie asked. _Oh for fucks sake._ Ciara let out a long breath.

"Sister, twins actually. She wanted to show me around tomorrow, but I-uh- declined." She said, trying to look anywhere but into their eyes.

"Do you guys want to join us? Maybe we can in-fill you with dread." He joked.

"My mom's waiting for me, but to be continued?" Veronica asked, pointedly looking at Ciara. Her mouth went dry as she nodded. Pop handed Veronica her bag and the girl made her way back to the front door of the diner. Leaving Ciara there to awkwardly and order her food.

"What about you, Ki? Want to join us?" The girl adjusted her glasses on her nose again and paled. She glanced to the corner booth were Jughead was looking at her with a confused look on his face, which quickly turned into a smirk.

"Sorry, Jughead is waiting for me back at out booth." She pointed at him with her thumb and she noticed that he had quickly turned around to his laptop.

Archie looked surprised at the mention of Jughead, but recovered quickly. "Maybe some other time then.

Betty smiled at her and nodded,"I'll see you tomorrow then"

Ciara nodded back and grabbed her basket of fries off of the counter and speed walked back to her booth, stumbling slightly.

"Still great at talking to girls, I see?" Jughead remarked when she sat down.

"Shut up." She mumbled and threw a fry at him.

*•*

"Wake up, sister dear!" Ciara opened her eyes to see Cheryl was coming in to sit on the side of her bed. Cheryl was already dressed in a black form-fitting dress, and pumps. Her hair was obviously in the middle of being done, as it was only pin straight.

Ciara picked up her phone from the side table: 6 _:30._ "Cher, I love you. But why are you waking me up at half six?"

Ciara sat up in bed, pushing her hair back out of her face."Because, school starts in an hour and a half; and if you're going to survive the wrath of our mother then you need to start getting ready."

Ciara stared at Cheryl. She couldn't be serious. "I showered last night, all I need to do is put on clothes."

"Europe has clearly killed some of your brain cells. Your hair needs to be straightened and curled, and your makeup needs to be done." Cheryl said as if it was obvious. Ciara sighed and ran a hand, or tried to, through her short, curly red hair.

"I'm not straightening my hair, and you can do a little bit of makeup on me. No lipstick, though" she compromised. Cheryl grinned and stood up.

"Fine, but whatever you wear must be approved by me." She smiled at her and left to her room across the hall.

Ciara let out a dry laugh and flopped back down on the bed. This was going to be a long day.

She knew Cheryl was very controlling, but she also knew that she was looking out for her younger sister. Both Cheryl and Ciara had always been seen as less in their mother's eyes. Jason had always been the golden boy, and spending this summer with them had proven this point multiple times.

It took her another half hour to get out of bed, and another half hour to actually put on the clothes she had picked out the night before when he had come back from Pop's.

Ciara was about to head to the bathroom so Cheryl could poke and prod at her face when her phone buzzed on her bed.

She opened it quickly and was surprised to find a text from Reggie Mantle, who she hadn't spoken to in a few days at least

 _Mantlepiece_  
 _You're going to do great today, especially if you come see me at football tryouts after school. ;)))_

She rolled her eyes at his message. Cheryl had asked her to watch cheer tryouts day with her, but frankly she was overly interested.

 _Kiwi_  
 _We'll see._

And with that, Ciara left her room.

*•*

Riverdale High was both smaller and larger than she had expected. This was made noticeable to her by the fact that she was still trying to find where she was supposed to meet up with Betty and Veronica for the last 10 minutes and she still couldn't find them.

The hallways were winding and the map the woman in the office had given her was highly confusing. Not to mention the fact that people were staring at her like a fish out of water.

She had the option of asking Cheryl for help, but she decided against it. It would be better if she could make her own name in the school, instead of hanging around Cheryl like a lost puppy.

She rounded another corner, her nose stuck in her map. _Maybe this hall connects to-_ Her thoughts were cut off by her basically body checking someone.

Ciara let out a yelp as she quickly righted herself, reaching out to grab the harm of whoever she had ran into. Who was quickly revealed to be the exact person she was looking for.

"Well, you sure know how to make an entrance, Ki!" Veronica observed, a smile present on her face. Ciara looked at Betty.

"I am _so_ sorry, Betty. I'm a bit of a mess when it comes to finding my way around new places." She apologized, embarrassed.

The blonde haired girl gave her a genuine smile before adjusting her bag on her shoulder, "It's completely, fine. You're right on time anyway."

She then moved her gaze to the hall and and motioned for them to follow her, "So, I usually start off my tours with a little history and context." Betty began, and Ciara visibly relaxed. History, that was something that relaxed her.

"Riverdale High first opened it's doors in 1941 and-"

"And hasn't been redecorated since, apparently." Veronica cut in.

Ciara's eyes widened and she coughed to hold back a laugh. "Honestly, I feel like I'm wandering through the lost epilogue of _Our Town_ "

"Uh-huh." Betty agreed, and the three of them giggled. Veronica was the first to speak up yet again, obviously not caring much about the tour.

"So, what's the social scene like around here? Any night clubs?" Veronica asked. Ciara raised an eyebrow. This girl must be really big on partying if this is the first thing she asks.

Betty looked mildly uncomfortable, but before she could answer, a voice arose from behind the girl's, "A strip club called the Ho-zone and a tragic gay bar called Innuendo." A boy had squeezed in front of them and was now walking backwards in front of them. He was done up nicely in a sweater and with a button up underneath, his hair gelled to once side. He kind of reminded Ciara of Blaine from _Glee._

"Friday nights, football games and then tailgate parties in the Mallmart parking lot." He moved to walk beside Betty, "Saturday night is movie night, regardless of what's playing at the Bijou, and you better get there early because there is no reserve seating in Riverdale."

His voice finally began to slow as he put his arm around Betty,"And Sunday nights... Thank god for HBO." He grinned at the two new girls and Betty moved quickly to introduce him.

"Veronica Lodge, Ciara Blossom, this is Kevin Keller." Betty looked up at Kevin." Veronica and Ciara are new here. Kevin is-"

"Gay! Thank God. Let's be best friends." Ciara nearly gagged at Veronica's comment. The whole concept of keeping gay guys as pets was gross. Guess that means one more girl in school who's unavailable, to Ciara at least.

Kevin leaned in close,"Is it true what they say about your dad?" He asked. Veronica stopped, noticeably stiffening before fixing Kevin with a glare.

Ciara's brows furrowed in confusion. What about Veronica's dad?

"That he's the devil incarnate?" Veronica asked, her voice filled with annoyance. "I stand by my father. Does everyone here know?"

The ginger girl raised her hand slightly, " No clue what you're even talking about, so..."

Kevin grinned suddenly,"Nice accent, Blossom." He complimented.

She looked at him at rolled her eyes, "Thanks, it's foreign." She didn't expect him to laugh.

Veronica pushed her hair away from her face and stood up straighter, "Wonderful, ten minutes in and I'm already the _Blue Jasmine_ of Riverdale High."

Ciara looked at Betty and Kevin and then back at Veronica who was already making her way down the hallway, and the quickly followed after her as Betty tried to continue the tour.

" Oh, and of course there's the Back-To-School semi formal dance this weekend." Betty was cut off yet again by Veronica stopping to ogle someone down the hall.

Ciara craned her neck to see who it was and rolled her eyes when she saw it was none other than Archie Andrews; who looked just as clueless as ever.

"Oh! There's the hottie we were with last night!" Veronica gushed grabbing onto both Betty and Ciara's arms. "The red-headed Ansel Elgort." She crossed her arms. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"No, he's straight."

"No, we're just friends."

Ciara let out a guffaw and quickly covered her mouth to hide the grin on her face.

Veronica, who was oblivious and quite clearly, also straight, leaned closer to Betty, "In that case, mind putting in a word?" She started taking a few steps forward. "I've tried every flavor of boy but orange."

Ciara gagged and cross her arms over her chest. "Actually,"Kevin cut in."Betty and Archie aren't dating, but they are endgame."

"That would be cute." Ciara agreed. After months and years of seeing them sitting together at Pop's during the summers, she could tell they were close. Not to mention they would be the perfect couple.

"In that case, you should ask him to the semi formal." Veronica said, giving Betty a suggestive look, that Ciara was sure if it would have been aimed at her; she would have fainted immediately.

Kevin shook his head,"She should, but I heard it might be getting canceled because of what happened to Jason."

It just took one mention of his name for the smile to be wiped off of Ciara's face. Kevin glanced at her and then quickly realized why her mood changed.

"Who's Jason and what happened to him?" Veronica asked.

Ciara cleared her threat quickly and pushed the hair out of her face." Speaking of Jason, I need to find Cheryl. She wants me to be with her during the assembly." She adjusted the bag on her back and jetted down the hallway but not before throwing a goodbye over her shoulder.

She had forgotten about the assembly, and the fact that Cheryl wanted her to be up onstage with her in front of the whole school.

When she turned the corner so she couldn't see Veronica, Betty, or Kevin anymore, she noticed the signs that marked the auditorium entrance, which she couldn't be more grateful for.

The double doors opened with ease and she immediately noticed her sister's ginger hair up front behind a podium, accented with a black lace veil. Ciara rolled her eyes. Something wasn't right about Cheryl's behavior lately, specifically regarding Jason. She acted more dramatic, and that was saying something as it _was_ Cheryl she was talking about. None of her so-called grieving seemed genuine.

It was a terrible thing to think of, and even worse that she possibly believed it, but Ciara felt like she had something to do with what had had happened to Jason. She felt sick to her stomach even thinking about it, but there were a lot of signs pointing to it.

"CiCi!" Cheryl called, the staff that surrounded her quickly turned to look at Ciara. Who pulled her gray sweater closer around her waist before making her way to Cheryl.

As she reached the podium, Cheryl grabbed her hand. "Are you okay?" She asked, her eyes filling with tears.

"I'm fine, Cher. Really." A large bell suddenly rang out and other students began pouring into the doors of the auditorium. She gulped, how many kids were in this school?

The principal, motioned for Cheryl and Ciara to move off to the side as every filled into their seats, the chatter of the students creating a dull roar of sound that echoed in the large room. The sick feeling was still in her stomach.

"Hello students, and welcome to a new school year. As you have all heard, one of our students, Jason Blossom had passed on during the summer." Principal Weatherbee began. The chatter immediately went silent. "Before we have some words said by his sisters, we would like to ask that we have a moment of silence for Jason." He stepped away from the podium and the whole room was quiet.

After a moment, Cheryl walked up to it, pulling Ciara along. She didn't make eye contact with anyone, or at least tried to as she stood beside Cheryl, who seemed to radiate confidence.

"Thank you for that moment of silence." Cheryl spoke into the microphone. "Many of you were lucky enough to know our brother personally. Each and every one of you meant the world to Jason."

Ciara fought the urge to roll her eyes, as far as she knew, there were at most four people who meant the world to Jason, and Cheryl and Ciara were two of them.

Cheryl continued on,"We loved our brother, he was and always will be, our soulmate."

"So I speak, on behalf of both Ciara and I, with confidence only a triplet can have... Jason wouldn't want us to spend the year mourning."

Ciara finally looked up from her hands to look at Cheryl. Where was she going with this?

"Jason would want us to move on with our lives. Which is why, I've asked the school to not cancel the Back-to-School semi formal!" Cheering was heard all throughout the auditorium and for some reason, Ciara felt naked. She didn't know these people, and they didn't know her. And they probably didn't even know Jason.

"But rather, to let us use it as a way to heal, collectively, and celebrate my brother's too, too short life on this mortal coil." Cheryl spoke with a smile on her face. "Thank you."

Ciara almost hurled.


End file.
